Indie Focus: The future of the Oscars

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

This newsletter is being sent out on the morning of one of the biggest days in the movie-year calendar: the Academy Awards ceremony. It’s been a year of surprises and controversy, and those conversations likely won’t stop — even well after that last envelope has been opened.

This past week, we had a really great event as part of the Indie Focus Screening Series, with the upcoming movie “Eye in the Sky,” starring Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, Aaron Paul and Barkhad Abdi, followed by a provocative Q&A with director Gavin Hood. We’ll have more screenings coming soon, so check events.latimes.com for more info.

“With Sunday’s Oscar show, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will close one of the most contentious awards seasons in its history and open an era of historic change, as the 89-year-old institution launches an ambitious drive to diversify its membership.

A Los Angeles Times study shows just how much work the academy has to do if it intends to reflect the audience it serves — and just how aggressive the group’s new goals are.”

Josh Rottenberg explored how the controversy over this year’s nominations will potentially impact the show itself — “a controversy that has divided its membership and damaged its image. And now, many expect it will take some of the glitz off Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony.”

And finally, I wrote about this year’s nominations in regard to what they say about the academy’s ideas of quality, how part of the issue facing the group moving forward is the somewhat narrow definitions they follow of what makes for a movie worthy of an Oscar. Thinking of all the film’s left out of this year’s nominations, I put forward that “there needs to be an expansion of what the modern Oscar movie can be, away from strictly the tastefully respectable movies that have too often recently come to dominate the field.”

And good luck to everyone on their Oscar ballot pools. Hopefully our coverage throughout the season will help someone win big.

'Triple 9'

Kate Winslet

Bob Mahoney / AP

Kate Winslet in a scene from 'Triple 9.'

Kate Winslet in a scene from 'Triple 9.'

(Bob Mahoney / AP)

Amid all the Oscar talk, there are some new movies out there, too, and among them this week is the gritty crime thriller “Triple 9,” the latest from John Hillcoat, director of “The Proposition” and “Lawless.”

“I’m actually a humanist, believe it or not,” Hillcoat said, “and I believe even when people are corrupted, even when they’ve gone to the dark side, they are still human beings. Being under pressure always brings out the best and worst in people.”

Reviewing the film for The Times, Katie Walsh noted, with a stacked cast and skillful filmmaking, "Triple 9" proves to be a satisfying crooked-cop heist thriller, imbued with complicated topical issues that last long after the adrenaline rush.

The series really gets into gear with a screening on March 4 of Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It,” along with an appearance by John Pierson for a 20th anniversary tribute to his influential book “Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes.” Throughout the series, there are going to be some incredible guests, including Allison Anders, John McNaughton, Rosanna Arquette, Susan Seidelman, Ross McElwee, Robert Townsend, Lizzie Borden, Billy Woodberry and Alex Cox. The lineup of films, which includes “Border Radio,” “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer,” “Desperately Seeking Susan,” “Sherman’s March,” “Hollywood Shuffle,” “Born In Flames,” “Bless Their Little Hearts” and “Repo Man,” is really incredible.

This may prove to be one of the most exciting programs to hit Los Angeles all year.